18.12.13

2013 IN SNOOKER: THE HITS AND MISSES

There
is no more snooker this year so it’s time to take stock, preferably with as
much food and alcohol as possible.

It’s
traditional to review the season rather than the calendar year but the whole
concept of seasons has become somewhat irrelevant in this era when snooker
rolls on and on. No sooner does the World Championship end as the new ‘season’
is about to start.

So
as we have this chance to pause, we can reflect on 2013, a year in which there
were many events, many winners, many terrific matches, controversy, drama and
much more besides.

To
simplify, there were hits and misses. Here are mine:

HITS

RONNIE
O’SULLIVAN

O’Sullivan
predicted his return at the Crucible would be a ‘car crash.’ In fact, he
motored to a sensational victory, proving once again that he produces his best
when the odds are apparently against him.

This
was one of snooker’s most notable achievements, but just as notable was the
fact nobody had stepped up and taken him on. This has changed now that O’Sullivan
is playing more snooker…but the Crucible is a different prospect and he goes
there clearly capable of making it six world titles.

DING
JUNHUI

In
winning three successive ranking titles, Ding proved that it is possible to
dominate: you just have to be exceptional. Steve Davis was. Stephen Hendry was.
Ding at his best is sublime and his patience and discipline got him through the
various dodgy times in matches he may have lost a couple of years back.

It’s
still five months until the world final. If Ding is in it then the viewing
audience in China will be colossal. And if he’s in it playing the snooker he’s
already produced this season then he will take some stopping.

CHAMPION
OF CHAMPIONS

This
was a welcome new event for several reasons. First, it was for the elite. There
was one table, not ten, and the game’s best were rewarded for their
achievements.

ITV4
also provided excellent coverage, the crowds were good and it gave snooker in
the UK a shot in the arm. One thing though: Matchroom should announce now what
the criteria is for places next season. Anthony McGill came up with a good
idea: invite the last 16 major tournament winners and thus avoid any arguments.

NEIL
ROBERTSON

Robertson’s
century tally for the season now stands at 60, just one off Judd Trump’s
seasonal record set during 2012/13. The Australian completed the triple crown
at the UK Championship and ends 2013 as world no.1.

More
than that, he is an eloquent speaker and his positive attitude is refreshing in
a sport where so many enjoy a moan.

BARRY
HEARN

Hearn
is Britain’s leading sports promoter. I know because he told me. But behind his
boastful demeanour, Hearn is a shrewd operator with a genuine sense of what the
public wants and the business savvy to make it happen.

Many
top players disagreed with the flat draw system but in the early stages of this
format they have been the main winners: literally – at the recent World Open
qualifiers every member of the top 16 made it through.

TWITTER

Fans
can now interact with players and others in the snooker world in a way
impossible and unimaginable years ago thanks to Twitter.

Not
every tweet is helpful or edifying but they each represent the truth of the
moment for players and are a world away from shiny and false PR. Players are
human beings, not robots. For good and bad, Twitter has provided a window on
the range of human emotions which come with life as a sportsman.

SNOOKER
LEGENDS

This
has been another successful year for a successful exhibition series which
showcases some of the players who did so much to put the game on the map in the
first place.

The
Legends nights have the right mix of fun and competition and the televised
event in Bedworth last May was a good way to wind down after the World
Championship.

MISSES

THE
WORLD OPEN

There’s
nothing wrong with this as a tournament but the complete lack of atmosphere due
to low crowds was a disappointment. Participation levels in China are
remarkable but ticket prices remain a problem. Quite simply, many ordinary
Chinese snooker fans are priced out of attending live matches.

It
was a particular shame in Haikou because it marked ITV’s return to broadcasting
snooker. They are not understood to be particularly keen to show the World Open
again.

JUDD
TRUMP

2013
was a disappointing year for Trump’s fans as he did not win a professional title
this calendar year, having won at least one each year since 2008. He had a good
run in the World Championship but lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals.
This season, results have been hard to come by.

I
think one of his problems is that the fear factor he had a couple of years ago
when he was the exciting new kid on the baize has gone. There is also the
pressure of raised expectations: before he was winning titles, 2013 would have been
judged a successful year, now he’s there to be shot at. But there’s another
year on the way and Trump remains both young and talented. All great players
have endured slumps and found their way out.

POWER
SNOOKER

Nothing
whatsoever was heard about this in 2013 beyond a vague announcement of an event
last March which never happened.

The
truth is, there was never anything wrong with snooker as a game, just how it
was being run. Now that has been addressed the traditional game is flourishing
and gimmicks will recede into history.

STEPHEN
LEE

Lee’s
appeal against his 12-year ban for match and frame fixing will be heard on
January 30. If he is unsuccessful his snooker career is over.

Snooker
is no more susceptible to cheating as any other sport but neither is it immune.
It has embraced the betting industry but needs to remain constantly alive to
ensuring players are not led astray by those looking to make a fast buck, which
appears to be what happened to Lee.

WOMEN’S
SNOOKER

World
Snooker launched a ‘Ladies Day’ at the Crucible where warm words were spoken
about helping the women’s game but when Reanne Evans qualified for the Wuxi
Classic she had to play a wildcard and, had she won, would have played Neil
Robertson in a session not televised in Europe.

The
good news for the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association is that Mandy
Fisher, who has probably done more than anyone to champion the women’s game,
has returned to the helm, which should hopefully help their circuit to grow
again.

LIVEWORLDSNOOKER.TV

This
service has taken a few backward steps this year. They dispensed with
commentary to cut costs and also reduced the number of cameras used.

Always
the problem on the Internet is how to make money out of something when people can get it for free.
Those who have watched on dodgy streams rather than subscribing certainly
haven’t helped but by and large people do pay if they feel a service is worth
it.

THE
BRITS

The
professional circuit is still comprised of 75% British players, largely because
the entire qualifying set-up has been based in Britain for decades. But all six
major ranking events this season have been won by non-British players, with
only two British finalists.

This
does not represent the end of snooker in the UK but does point to the game
becoming more global, which is the key to its ultimate survival as a big money
sport.

And with all that, and plenty of snooker to look forward to in 2014, I wish a very merry Christmas and happy New Year to all readers of this blog.

9 comments:

I have subscribed to the perform service but I do have an issue with it, definitely. It's the territory restrictions. Why? It's a contractual thing, ok, and my understanding is it's done to protect the rights of the television broadcasters. However, only too often, it's not accessible to me because for instance ES is broadcasting part of the event, but NOT in my country. What then? I really think this should be discussed between all parts involved. Is there really a need for such restrictions? I think not. Why would anyone watch the snooker on their screen, if they can get a far better image/sound on their TV? I know that ES has their own "player" service and there might be a competition. But why not let the market work and compete on quality/offer?Also, the perform service doesn't work on mobile devices like the iPad. That's a huge set back.

Match of the Year: Welsh Open Final between Stuart Bingham and Stephen Maguire

Performance of the Year: Ronnie O'Sullivan winning the World Championship after taking nearly a year off, producing some sensational snooker, including a first session against Stuart Bingham that was a high a standard that we saw all year.

I probably agree with all your hits & misses, in particular flat DOES seem to be working, so let's start the TV coverage (apart from PTCs)at L32 or L16, so we can see more quality matches.

For me a winner this year was Eurosport. On PTC days in particular they have offered wall to wall live coverage. The ipad Eurosport is a good product (but please fix the full screen bug with the external adaptors when changing channels). Fix that, put live commentary onto the player (as the BBC does), mop up the liveworldsnooker.tv matches and it would be 5 out of 5.

Another winner was ITV. A great tournament & great coverage. I hope it returns in 2014.

A minor loser this year is the BBC whose coverage in the earlier stages is really damaged by going to a single red button channel. Yes the two streams are on the internet, but getting full screen is problematic. And there is no red button on the ipad iplayer.

And my Xmas snooker wish is that 2014 be a good year for Trump, and the same for some of the exciting players on the fringe.

For me, the triumphs of the year have been the flat 128 draws and the emphatic success of ITV and the Champion of Champions.

The success of flat draws cannot be better epitomised than by the success of Davy Morris. Undoubtedly a good player, destined to go high in the rankings, but it's only December and he's an odds on shot to be top 64 by the end of the season. On one seasons points. And that's thanks to the flat 128 system, because winning matches pays off now, whereas it didn't (for a new pro) under the old system.

ITV....all that coverage was fantastic, and all live too. No embarrassing "features", proper snooker analysis and chat, good commentary....a ranking tournament cannot be far away for snookers latest broadcaster. For all the moans about York, the amount of hours ITV devote to their coverage makes it perfect for a 128-man field. If they'd covered the UK, there'd have been no moans.

And will we witness now a flood of prestige invitationals? The players loved the CoC, so the demand is there. Perhaps a top 32 invite only event? To distance it from a "Masters" format?

Disappointments of 2013? They're getting fewer, but the main one is live streaming. Yet again, the list of things you CAN'T watch is longer than the list of things you CAN. Plus I'm going to add my voice to the growing chorus of putting live streams to EVERY table. This CANNOT surely be beyond the WSA?

Lastly, another (slightly) disappointing point of 2013 was Ding Junhui's misses at 5-5 on the colours against Ronnie O'Sullivan. I know the pressure was immense, but I gat the feeling a huge mental barrier would have been destroyed if Ding had prevailed there. As it is, ominously, Ronnie O'Sullivan still has an aura over Ding in the truly big events. And Robertson.

Have a great Xmas Dave, and look forward to many more of your excellent blog in 2014,

1. The commentary duo of Everton/Foulds. You could watch any match with these two at the helm.

2. The flat draw. Great to see new exciting players emerge.

3. Overseas winners of the first 6 rankers. Another step towards snooker becoming a global sport.

4. The Indian lads doing so well in their virgin home tournament. Looked as if Mehta was going to do a "Ding" by winning it, until Ding, ironically, beat him in the final.

My misses were

1. The slowdown in progress of Trump, Lisowski and Brecel. Hopefully the careers of these entertaining young players will re-ignite and the slump they are experiencing at their respective levels will be just that. A slump.

2. Ronnies book. Thought it was the same oul shite as his last one. Bit like a teenager's essay about his summer holidays.No snooker autobiography has even come close to Joe Davis' brilliant "The breaks came my way". Really captured the era, the game(s) and the characters.Hopefully The Nugget's book will match it whenever it comes out.

3. The Lee shenanigans. Classy cueist who thrived under the new regime, and looked as if he was about to earn some serious twine. Was probably the best player on the tour for a while just before the PL debacle. Was great to watch when his confidence was up and its a shame what happened.

Im from Australia and I'm both a subscriber of liveworldsnooker.tv and foxtel, which is the broadcaster supposed to have all tv rights. But guess what, they dont show any snooker apart from the Australian Open. So I had to rely on internet stream to watch any major ranking event. Surely Hearn can do something about this?